


a way of helping oneself

by wafflelate



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Gen, Peggy Sue, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28952721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/pseuds/wafflelate
Summary: The most helpful information Sai brings back in time is probably his knowledge of who is and is not trustworthy.
Relationships: Sai & Hatake Kakashi, Sai & Hatake Kakashi & Morino Ibiki
Comments: 14
Kudos: 379
Collections: Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection, Past Imperfect Future Unknown 2020





	a way of helping oneself

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_rck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_rck/gifts).



The mission parameters had been clear: "Sai," Shikako had said when she gave him the seal, "if you have to use it, then just focus on taking care of yourself." 

Sai is not, admittedly, _sure_ how to do that. But he has a few ideas, and Shikako has always encouraged Sai to explore unconventional methods when it comes to fulfilling mission objectives. 

_Helping others is a way of helping oneself_ , the books had all said. _Taking care of others affirms that one also deserves the same_. 

No one expects Sai to be able to create any kind of clone yet, so sneaking away is easy. The others won't even try to wake him in the morning, buying even more time. Time Sai will need. 

Tsunade had been Sai's first real Hokage, but she's too far away for Sai to reach her. Going to Shikako would mean endangering her, because she's currently about seven years old. Sai therefore proceeds through the village in full stealth, taxing his miniscule reserves, and settles in to wait at the memorial stone. 

The grass is damp with morning dew and Sai's equipment is inadequate for prolonged exposure to the elements, even as mild as Konoha's weather currently is. The small portion of rations alloted to his child's body are also suboptimal for maintaining correct body temperature without the aide of chakra, and Sai must conserve his energy strictly in case he needs to fight later. 

So he lets himself shiver in the pre-dawn light, and by the time Hatake Kakashi finally arrives Sai is sitting with his knees pressed to his chest to stave off the worst of the heat lost to the morning breeze. 

They make eye contact, and Sai can see the situation being turned over in Kakashi's head. He's probably deciding whether or not Sai's situation is his problem. 

Sai will generously save some of Kakashi's time. "I've been waiting for you," he tells Kakashi. 

Kakashi's shoulders slump into careful relaxation. "Guess I don't have to ask if you're lost, then." 

"I am not," Sai confirms. 

"Well, what does he want, then?" 

Sai presses the edges of his mouth down. He tilts his head. He carefully scrunches his eyebrows — just enough to look confused or inquisitive, not worried or angry. 

"That's creepy," Kakashi mutters. "Look, I know who sent you. Just get to the point." 

In retrospect, it's unsurprising that Kakashi would be able to recognize an agent like Sai for exactly what he is. ROOT agents to have, as Ino would have said, a _look_. 

"I," Sai says carefully, "sent myself." 

Kakashi's eye narrows. 

His suspicion is warranted. 

"Ten years from now, you were frequently my commanding officer," Sai says. 

"I'll be dead in ten years," Kakashi says. 

He sounds sure, so Sai shrugs at him. It isn't worth arguing that point when Kakashi could, realistically, die at any time. Sai's memories of a future that Shikako's seal erased aren't a promise of events to come. 

Sai decides on a change of subject that isn't really a change at all: "I only knew one Uchiha," 

"So you came back to make more friends?" 

"I'm limited in what I can say," Sai says. "You know why. I only knew _one_ Uchiha." Even saying that much, repeating it with emphasis, makes Sai's tongue heavy, like a lead weight held in his mouth. 

Kakashi's eye flicks down to Sai's mouth — at the seal on his tongue — and then searches his face. "Is that all you can say?" 

"The Uchiha was your student." Teammates are important to Kakashi. "So was the seal master who sent me back." Shikako is important in general. "Morino Ibiki is loyal to the village, but not _too_ loyal." There's no way Sai is going to get through this without an interrogation, but it's important that his information stay with the right people. 

There is the complication of where exactly the initial interrogation should take place, of course. Using any of the official venues would amount to handing Sai directly back over to Danzō, which is obviously to be avoided if at all possible. 

To Sai's surprise, the most secure location Kakashi can bring him to on short notice is simply his own one-room apartment. "Don't touch anything or you might die," Kakashi says cheerfully and somewhat ambiguously — although Sai doesn't intend to touch anything, so it doesn't matter whether he means because some items are trapped or because he'll punish Sai for doing so. 

Sai simply stands in the center of the room and waits. There's a sewing machine and several half-constructed dog-sized vests on the table, a pleasant reminder of the Kakashi that Sai knew best in the future. He hopes he will get to re-meet the dog summons and that it will be under friendly circumstances. 

Kakashi and Morino Ibiki enter via the kitchen window. Morino Ibiki's eyes linger on Sai curiously, and Sai looks back at him with just as much interest. Kakashi looks more or less the same as the Kakashi who Sai had known in the future, but Ibiki's head is startlingly free of scarring, and his forehead protector is on a standard headband instead of a headscarf. 

It will take some time to acclimate to even differences as small as this. 

"Younger than most informants," Ibiki remarks. 

"He's older than he looks, apparently." Kakashi's eye curves in amusement. 

"You know, I had things to do today." 

"Do you know the Mind Transmission jutsu?" Sai asks. 

"Oh, would that work?" Kakashi asks, sounding genuinely surprised. And then he asks, "Would you really let him use it?" 

Ibiki frowns. "There are rules about using that outside of official interrogations. Kakashi, who even is this kid? He could be Idate's classmate." 

"I haven't asked his name yet," Kakashi says cheerfully. "I figured I'd leave that sort of thing to someone with interrogation skills." 

"You know you can just foist lost kids off on the KMP, right? You don't have to do this to me." 

The longer this goes on the more likely it is that Sai's escape from ROOT will be discovered before Sai can even impart any information. Sai breaks into the conversation before Kakashi can wind Ibiki up more and says, "I know how the Third will die." 

That stops them both. Ibiki in particular focuses on him "You have credible knowledge of sedition? Or a foreign threat?" 

Sai curls his lips up, giving a smile he knows has never really looked adequately real or friendly. "Do you know the Mind Transmission jutsu?" Sai asks again. 

Ibiki doesn't. But he knows how to smuggle a witness to see Yamanaka Inoichi, which is a better path forward than any of the ones Sai had contemplated after opening his eyes in his ROOT cot and ascertaining his age. 

Yamanaka Inoichi might even be convinced to place Sai with the Nara for safekeeping while he investigates, if Sai is very careful and very lucky. 


End file.
